Behunin Canyon |

Trip Report

bblanchard Trip Reports

Behunin Canyon

Fifth canyon ever done.  Shane and Mary Holst, Rob Dean, and Dave Burnett were our teamates.  We started at the Grotto Trailhead and realized early from our experience the day before on Spry that Mary was going through menopause and had been suffereing the dreaded hotflashes.  It took an hour longer to climb to the  White Rim trail where Behunin begins.

Once we arrived at the trailhead we had a bit of a rest and drank some water.  Dave didn't bring too much water so I gave him one of my bottles.  I've always been able to push through dehydration quite well in the past so I figured a big guy like him could have mine.  Once we began the hike down to the first rappel I was really liking it.  Upon arrival at the first rappel we(Shane our team leader) decided to stop for lunch.  I agreed being none-the-wiser.  But I did feel a sense of urgency because of all the extra amount of time we took to get to the top.  Needles to say it almost bit us on time.  We made a few rappels and they turned out great.  By the third rappel which is a blind rappel and one cannot see the bottom we threw the length of rope by guessing the height of the rappel but as soon as Mary started down she yelled up at us that she didn't have enough rope.  Luckily we were rigged a releasable anchor and was able to lower her down until the rope touched.  MMO is what we call that.  Meaning Munter, Mule, Overhand.  The Munter allows for friction on the anchored carabiner and allows for a us to lower the person down saftely.  

Everything seemed to go smoothly but by the time we had gotten to the pool of water Dave found himself stuck in an emtpy pothole with no way out and so Shane, Mary and myself had to create a 4 to 1 mechanical advantage pulley system to pull him out of the pothole.  That took a lot of time and we had our backs against the sunlight clock. 

Two more rappels would be our last rappel in the upper emerald pool area.  The last rappel was a 185ft free hanging rappel.  It was scarey.  I'd gotten to the bottom and asked Mary not to tell Shane but my hand was shaking.  She laughed.  I don't know why but I think this canyon had the best rappels I've ever done on it.

Great Canyon experience.



bblanchard Trip Reports